Naturalized footballers to sue VFF for new rule limiting clubs to 1 player

Monday, November 30, 2009 14:04

Law firm AIC said November 27 that seven naturalized foreign footballers want to sue the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) for a new rule that restricts each V-League club from fielding more than one naturalized player in a match.

Goalkeeper Dinh Hoang La (Mykola) from Ukraina, in Ninh Binh Club one of seven players wants to sue VFF. (VnExpress)

AIC has written to the VFF and is waiting for its response to start legal proceedings.

If the VFF fails to revoke the regulation, the seven are also considering complaining to their local governments and the world governing body FIFA, AIC said.

The VFF chairman, Nguyen Trong Hy, refused to comment about the issue saying the VFF has not received any communication from the seven players.

The VFF has recommended to the Ministry of Justice to adopt the new regulation and the outcome depends on the ministry’s decision, he added.

The Vietnam Football Championship was turned into the professional organization named V-League in the 2000-2001 football season. From then on, foreign players were permitted to play football in Vietnam.

In 2007, Brazil’s Santos was the second foreign player to be naturalized in Vietnam. The first was Ludovic Casset (France), who has a Vietnamese name – Ma Tri. However Casset’s mother is Vietnamese.